Sometimes when people face extreme sadness, all they see is their own sadness. They become a bit inward, and who would blame them? It hurts to hurt. A peek outside of yourself, even briefly, can give you the strength to keep going onward with hope.

When I was going through my divorce those peeks of hope came mostly from manifestations of God’s love and America’s Funniest Home Videos.

The first, “Manifestations of God’s love,” sounds pretty generic. And it did show up in many places and many ways, despite the nagging feeling that I was a lost cause. I remember feeling it on those rare Sundays when I would be at church during a communion service, or during congregational singing. Hearing other people’s voices along with my own made God’s grace much more real. But to be honest, I’m still a little uncomfortable at church. I still have nagging feelings. But here I am, bruised and bandaged and greatly loved by God. I’ll take it.

The second, America’s Funniest Home Videos, is much less vague. I liked watching stupid stuff. I mean it really made me laugh. I never thought a kick to the crotch was funny before, or the lady falling down in her kitchen. But it tickled me to no end. Okay, it still kind of does. I have no deep symbolic thing to add here, it really “is what it is”. Laughing during a painful time was and is very important to me. Very necessary. Oh, The Far Side Gallery helped, too. And Ecclesiastes. But that’s another story.

So what’s my point? My point is this: I don’t ever want to be so lost in myself, be it due to pain or joy, that I don’t see what others around me are going through. I want to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn”. I want to be present.